Global Something
From Joe D'Aleo, Chief Meteorologist at Intellicast, comes POSSIBLE "ICE AGE" IN NEAR FUTURE?

Wood's Hole Oceanographic Institute scientists have theorized that global warming induced by natural and/or human factors could actually bring colder temperatures to some highly populated areas like Eastern North America and Western Europe.

In the North Atlantic, an increasing amount of fresh water, perhaps coming from melting ice in the Arctic, has been accumulating and lowering the salinity of the ocean for the past 30 years. Fresh water in the ocean can upset the ocean currents that are the key to our planet's climate control system.

In February, WHOI oceanographers presented new evidence that this northern freshwater buildup may be approaching the threshold where it could alter currents in a way that would cause an abrupt drop in average winter temperatures of about 5 degrees Fahrenheit over much of the United States and 10 degrees in the Northeast. This change could happen within a decade and persist for hundreds of years. The dramatic and abrupt cooling would be especially noticed throughout the North Atlantic region of the United States and Europe where some 60 percent of the world's economy is based. Read more below!

Wood's Hole Oceanographic story http://www.whoi.edu/home/about/whatsnew_abruptclimate.html

Following the Woods Hole link leads to a lot of interesting historical information:

These shifts almost certainly involved changes in the ocean's circulation. There were shutdowns and restartings of the Ocean Conveyor. These warm-to-cold transitions happen in about 3 to 10 years. The cold periods lasted for 500 to 1,000 years. Such oscillations in temperature and ocean circulation have occurred on a regular basis.

About 1,000 years ago, during a period of unusually warm temperatures in the North Atlantic, the Norse established settlements and vineyards in Greenland that would not be possible today. Those settlements were abandoned about 500 years ago, when we believe the most recent shutdown of the North Atlantic Ocean circulation system occurred.

During that era, called the Little Ice Age, northern Europe was much colder than it is today. Glaciers spread outward and downward in the Alps. Winters, on average, were more severe. Farming was affected. Famine was frequent.

In the 1730s and 1740s, abrupt European cooling caused famine across western Europe, especially in Ireland and France, where farmers depended on wheat and potatoes. In Ireland, this is known as the "forgotten famine." As many people died during the forgotten famine as died during the famed potato famine of the 1840s.

The 16th-century Flemish artist Bruegel couldn't have painted his famous frozen landscapes today, because now canals in the Netherlands rarely freeze, as they regularly did back then. And likewise, the winter in Valley Forge might not have been so cold, and Washington's crossing of the ice-bound Delaware River wouldn't have been so dramatic, if he had done it a century later - because our climate conditions have shifted since then, and today, the Delaware River rarely freezes.

If you read David McCullough's biography of John Adams, you will remember that the British were about to set Boston on fire when George Washington was able to bring the cannons of Fort Ticonderoga down from upstate New York in record time. He was able to do it because the ground was frozen solid and they could slide the cannons to the Dorchester hills of Boston in time to persuade the British to retreat from Boston and to change the course of history.

So we have solid evidence that the Great Ocean Conveyor has slowed down or shut down in the past. And we have seen dire impacts on our climate. It begs the question: Could something throw a wrench into the Great Ocean Conveyor in the near future? And could that trigger abrupt, dramatic climate changes throughout our planet? The answers to those questions are, indisputably, "Yes and yes."

Uh Oh! Theory alert! Well actually they really don't have any theories, just the conjecture, based on some recent measurements, that this abrupt change may happen soon. The connection to "'global warming" as a result of human activities is barely given a passing mention, but I suppose one can't get published in climatology these days without some such.

Obviously the ecoweenie position will be that any change in climate patterns has to be the fault of the selfish citizens of the USA, but if this cooling takes place, I wonder how they are going to explain to the populace that global warming turned chilly?

Islamic Wingnut Alert!
Tha AP is reporting that Radical Clerics to Celebrate on 9 / 11:

LONDON (AP) -- Extremist Muslim clerics will meet in London on Sept. 11 to celebrate the anniversary of the attacks on the United States and to launch an organization for Islamic militants, an organizer of the conference said Saturday.

Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed of Al-Muhajiroun, a radical group that supports making Britain an Islamic state, said the conference will argue that the terror attacks were justified because Muslims must defend themselves against armed aggression.

The event at Finsbury Park mosque in north London, ``Sept. 11, 2001: A Towering Day in History,'' will also mark the launch the Islamic Council of Britain.

Mohammed said the council will aim to implement Sharia law in Britain and will not exclude al-Qaida sympathizers from membership.

Hmmm, I guess "The Satanic Verses" won't be one of the Islamic Council's book club selections.

Rest In Peace
Peter Benesh in Investor's Business Daily writes He Roared Against Oppression:

Ahmed Shah Massoud's goal was freedom. It cost him his life.

Massoud, the first hero of Sept. 11, died two days earlier. Two al-Qaida suicide bombers posing as Belgian journalists killed him with an exploding camera at his camp in Afghanistan's remote Panjshir Valley.

...

He died unable to fathom U.S. abandonment of his anti-Soviet, anti-Taliban fighters. Nor could he comprehend U.S. backing for Pakistan, whose infamous intelligence service had created the Taliban.

Americans don't realize what they owe Massoud, says Sebastian Junger, author of "The Perfect Storm" and "Fire."

Massoud made America's victory in Afghanistan possible, says Junger, who spent a month with Massoud for National Geographic Adventure magazine in 2000. "Had he not held out against the Taliban for so many years, militarily what we would have faced would have been vastly more complicated and costly."

...

Said Junger: "We ignored Massoud's warnings about what was happening there. The connection between his assassination and 9-11 is absolute.

"I had interviewed a Taliban prisoner. He said, 'We have to kill Massoud. He's the last wall standing between us and our goal.' "

That goal was "a militant Islamist belt from Sinkiang to Chechnya," said Haron Amin, deputy chief of the Afghan mission in Washington, D.C.

Massoud had a vision for his country, says Amin, Massoud's emissary in the U.S. "It was one of social justice, tranquility and progress, keeping the Islamic character but integrating women into politics and the labor force."

His intellect, leadership, humanitarianism and war record made him a figure of mythic proportions.

Much more information about an exceptional man by following the link.

Knickers, Tightly Twisted
From June Thomas in Slate:

When George W. Bush attacked Saddam Hussein in a speech Wednesday, the British papers were boggled by the president's vocabulary, described by the Financial Times as "his inimitable populist argot," specifically his references to Saddam having "stiffed" the world and "crawfished" the international community.

The Times' Washington correspondent accused the president of inventing the verb "to crawfish," which it claimed was "unknown even to slang dictionaries" and worried that he would "plunge the simultaneous translators into meltdown" when he addresses the United Nations on Sept. 12. The Independent was more resourceful?turning to Webster's for a definition of crawfishing ("to retreat from a position, to back out, to fail to stick to a statement made").

The consternation of the simultaneous translators and the newshawks is way down the list.

An Inside Look at the Earth Summit
In the latest Laissez Faire Electronic Times, Jim Peron has the third in a lengthy three part (so far) series on the Earth Summit which he attended as an NGO delegate. The title is "My Encounter with the Poverty Pimps" which is a good description of the Earth Summit all by itself. Some excerpts:

By the time the registration's were over something was apparent. The number of delegates was no where near the promised amount. The UN issued a press release saying how thrilled they were that delegates numbers were far in excess of projections. In truth the turn out was less than 50% of prior projections. Yet the UN said the large turnout proved the importance of an environmental agenda for the world.

I wondered about that. Before the hoedown, 65,000 delegates were "expected" but as it commenced the number kept getting revised downwards. There's much hilarity in Peron's tales of attending this botch job in the combat zone which is modern Johannesburg, but in the interests of brevity, I'll cut to the chase.

When the Summit actually got underway it became clear that South Africa would use it to push for massive amounts of international welfare. President Mbeki played the race card again?some suspect it's the only card in his deck. He talked about "international apartheid" . SA's Finance Minister Trevor Manuel went on television to lament how globalization had benefited some?the rich nations of the west. The World Bank released a report saying that the 20 wealthiest nations in the world were 30 times richer than the 20 poorest nations in the world. Every left-wing lunatic, fringe Green groupie, trade unionist, communist and eco-feminist was soon bleating the same tune.

Of these groups only the World Bank was technically correct though its spin was a bit deceptive and the gullible media couldn't figure out what this meant. Mbeki, Manuel and the chorus of Leftists were just plain uninformed about the facts. And if they knew the facts they were intentionally lying for political gain.

The World Bank has noted that the average "rich" nation of the world was growing by only about 2% per annum. This is not a growth rate to crow about by any means. On the other hand Third World (or poor) nations that globalized by reducing tariffs, increasing foreign trade, privatizing and deregulating were growing at a rate more than twice as fast as the rich nations: 5% per annum. If anything the real winners in globalization are poor nations that adopt market policies. Trevor Manuel's claims were the exact opposite of the facts. President Mbeki was just trying to use guilt to shame the West into more funding for corrupt African leaders.

The World Bank's statistic is true but misleading. The 20 poorest nations are nations that have centralized control over the economy, protectionists trade policies and corrupt governments. The Bank has admitted elsewhere that poor countries that refuse to globalize are seeing their economies shrink by 1.5% per annum. So globalization ends up getting blamed for the results in nations which refuse to globalize. Considering that rich nations with liberal market policies are growing at 2% and poor nations with authoritarian policies are shrinking at 1.5%, then the differences in wealth between them will continue to grow. But poor nations adopting market policies are catching up with the West very quickly.

...

Of course such facts go contrary to the policies being promoted by the Poverty Pimps of the NGOs and the Vampire Elite who rule African nations. These groups want aid not trade. The Poverty Pimps earn their living acting as the conduits by which the West passes aid to Third World nations. The Vampire Elite are the people to whom the aid is given. This allows them the luxury of lucrative Swiss bank accounts, fancy cars, the latest defense weapons and other goods. They can channel money to favored causes, regions or tribes for personal political gain?much the way Mugabe's land redistribuiton policy has enriched his wife and closest friends. Aid becomes a tool by which the Vampire Elite subjugate their own people. It is a means of controlling the masses while enriching oneself. Trade is a bit more difficult to control since Individual companies or entrepreneurs tend to trade with each other. This doesn't leave much for the Poverty Pimps or Vampire Elite. Their bias will always be for more aid since that is what directly benefits them. Bugger the poor.

Indeed. More by following the link.

Silly Net Tricks
The New Scientist reveals Google mirror beats Great Firewall of China:

China's widely criticised blocking of the web's most popular search engine Google can be defeated by viewing a strange Google mirror site through a mirror, New Scientist has discovered.

The mirror site, called elgooG, is a parody of the English language version of Google in which all the text on the web pages has been reversed. The text terms used for searches are also entered in reverse. The site, which returns all the same hits as Google, can be accessed from behind China's "great firewall".

Viewing the page using a mirror makes it somewhat easier to read, and would allow someone to find a website.

...

The company behind Google has released programming information that provides remote access to its search capabilities. This means mirror sites can be created without having to duplicate Google's colossal database, though to date New Scientist has only identified elgooG.

Check the site out at http://www.alltooflat.com/geeky/elgoog/, but don't try it without a mirror - it's a major headache inducer. This is an idea whose time has definitely not come. Hmmm, I've already said that about a web site.

Congressional Snooze
The NY Times has a report that Congress Now Promises to Hold Weeks of Hearings About Iraq:

Congressional leaders said today that they would undertake weeks of hearings and debate on whether to support military action against Iraq, a move that could delay a final vote until after the November elections.

"I'm more concerned about getting this done right than getting it done quickly," said Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, the Democratic majority leader, a day after President Bush agreed to seek congressional approval before any invasion. Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, the Republican minority leader, also made it clear that he did not favor forcing a quick vote, although on Wednesday Congressional and administration leaders had predicted that the debate could be concluded by early October.

Even as Congressional leaders discussed an extended timetable, a United Nations official said today that international weapons inspectors had identified several nuclear-related sites in Iraq where new construction or other unexplained changes had occurred since their last visit nearly four years ago.

Here's a clue, guys: November elections. The spectacle of the bloviators jawing away for two months is going to make folks a tad testy.

It's Clobbering Time
(Via Drudge) The Telegraph (UK) reports 100 jets join attack on Iraq:

About 100 American and British aircraft took part in an attack on Iraq's major western air defence installation yesterday in the biggest single operation over the country for four years.

The raid appeared to be a prelude to the type of special forces operations that would have to begin weeks before a possible American-led war. It was launched two days before a war summit between President George W Bush and Tony Blair in America.

Maybe sponsoring terrorism isn't an optimal career choice.

Kumbaya Alert!
Dave Winer emits a steaming stream titled Lessons of 9-11:

9-11 was, imho, a small upheaval in getting to some kind of equilibrium in how the US participates in the world, both from the US perspective, and the world's perspective. That we got so much sympathy says how big the human heart is. That there wasn't more celebrating in the streets of world capitals says that they forgive us for our selfish attitude, which is back in force as if 9-11 never happened.

So what was the lesson of 9-11 that the US has failed to learn? I think it's that God doesn't think we're as important as we do. The concept of national security is obsolete. We can't close our borders. We live on this planet with everyone else. Global warming, AIDs, terrorism, all penetrate all borders. New York is a world city. The last gasps of isolationism will be snuffed out by more humiliation, until we get the truth, we aren't above the rest of the world, but we are part of it.

The Fat Guy (from whom I stole the link) is kind when he says "As a political columnist, Dave Winer is sure a fine software genius."

I say, add a reason to the top of the list for not using Radio.

Terminal Cluelessness
Professor Bunyip has an amusing dissection of Donohoue Clyne, one of the self defacing cast of Islamic apologists that seem to infest academia. Sample:

It's an eye-popping piece of work, not because it lays out the intense sexism to be found in Australia's insular Muslim enclaves, which it does, but for what it says about Donohoue Clyne's broad-minded acceptance of it. No doubt, she'd be up in arms if some chauvinist swine at the Parkville Asylum insisted that she sit only in a sex-segregated section of the faculty lounge, defer to males at all times and accept being ignored when speaking to a man who, for whatever reason, was disinclined to respond.

No word on barefoot and pregnant.